.... with added knitting and crochet

Working my way though the DVD collection is proving rather enjoyable during lockdown. I spent a lot of last weekend's Bank Holiday enjoying a Star Wars marathon, now I'm onto old black and white movies. Last night, it was Lost Horizon, tonight who knows?

I love the free Nightly Met Opera Streams from their archives. Each opera streams for 23 hours and because of the time difference, I'm off to catch up with Wednesday's offering after I finish this blog post. It's Puccini's La Rondine starring Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna from January, 2009. Pic is from one of last week's operas - Gounod's Romeo et Juliette - which had fabulous costumes.

There's been some crochet going on. This is my variation of Katya Novikova's Summer Memories shawl pattern. The body is worked in Wollmeise 100% Merino Superwash, colourway Ooohm, with stripes in Amazonas and Campari Piccolo.

That's about all I have to report. Life goes on much the same day after day and I'm doing my best to stay cheerful and keep busy.

I'm making the effort to get out of the flat every day for fresh air and exercise. Walking the streets round where I live seems to be the best way as the seafront and streets leading to the sea are busy. I suspect this might change when the weather turns grey and rainy!

Yesterday's walk was along Eaton Road (how could I resist?) past the cricket ground.

i don't really mind staying at home (I'm over 70, so being very cautious about Covid-19). Self-isolation feels rather like working freelance from home which I did for many years but this time it's without the work!

My studio table is tidy and today's plan is to get out the pdf sewing patterns that I've printed on paper and stick the pages together. I'm in need of new clothes and have lots of fabric washed and ready to cut out.

Apart from sewing clothes, I have plenty here to keep me occupied and happy. Music, books, audiobooks are all essential to my mood (thank goodness for Spotify, Kindle, Audible and library apps) and there's a sizeable yarn stash to keep my fingers busy.

I'm mainly a process knitter/crocheter. I enjoy the actual making of items rather than wanting the finished products. There are exceptions though. I knitted a Find Your Fade shawl (Ravelry link) for a friend's 50th birthday and hated the process (all those damn rows of garter stitch...) and swore never to make another one.

That is, until I tried the shawl on and realised I had to knit one for myself, this time in greens and purples.

Fast forward a couple of years and I've knitted another for myself. Mad or what?

This one's mainly shades of light and dark blue with soft, yellowy browns. The yarn ends are all sewn in and the shawl needs blocking. But first, I have to clear the studio table. I may be some time...

For several years, I've listed books/ebooks/unabridged audiobooks that I've read/listened to on Pinterest. No reviews, just pictures of the covers so I could remember titles and avoid duplicates. In the first half of 2019, I listed 64 titles. For some reason, books/ebooks I listed from Amazon were linked through to 'Amazon Fashion'. I've always been able to delete unwanted links; now I can't. So it's goodbye Pinterest...

These are the remaining audiobooks of Books 2019:

London Rules (Slough House Series 5) [Unabridged Audiobook] [Audible] by Mick Herron, narrated by Sean Barrett

Joe Country (Slough House Series 6) [Unabridged Audiobook] [Audible] by Mick Herron, narrated by Sean Barrett

I thought I would take up blogging again where I left off in 2018. It's hard to believe that more than a year has gone past since my last post, in spite of lots of good intentions on my part. I'm a bit of an expert at putting-off-stuff-until-tomorrow.

So, what's been happening here? Nothing of note really - it's been one of those fallow years where I've felt as if I've been marking time rather than forging ahead. I've read a lot of books and listened to countless audiobooks while despairing about the state of this country and the government. And I feel it's only going to get worse after January 31.

In other news, I'm beavering away on several new knitting and crochet designs. There has been much swatching.

The models are now finished but instructions still need bashing into shape before the patterns are tech edited and tested. Why does everything take an age?

My best nine posts on Instagram this year are mainly knitting. No surprise there then.

From left to right, top row: Outlander shawl knitted several years ago and finally blocked, new design Colifichet, new design Wrap of Ages. Middle row: garter stitch wrap using oddments of sock yarn held double, Outlander blocking, Wrap of Ages pattern shot. Bottom row: Frankensocks, no-knead wholemeal bread straight out of the oven, new design Random Precision, large size.